Somme Mud
E P F Lynch
Jul 2010 · Random House
4.7star
11 reviewsreport
eBook
448
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About this eBook
'It's the end of the 1916 winter and the conditions are almost unbelievable. We live in a world of Somme mud. We sleep in it, work in it, fight in it, wade in it and many of us die in it. We see it, feel it, eat it and curse it, but we can't escape it, not even by dying...'
Edward Lynch enlisted when he was just 18 - one of thousands of fresh-faced men who were proudly waved off by the crowds as they embarked for France. It was 1916 and the majority had no idea of the reality of the Somme trenches, of the traumatised soldiers they would encounter there, of the innumerable, awful contradictions of war. Private Lynch was one of those who survived, and on his return home, wrote Somme Mud in pencil in over 20 school exercise books, perhaps in the hope of coming to terms with all that he had witnessed there?
Written from the perspective of an ordinary 'Tommy' and told with dignity, candour and surprising wit, Somme Mud is a testament to the human spirit: for out of the mud that threatened to suck out a man's soul rises a compelling story of humanity and friendship.
For all who are marking the centenary of the Great War, it is a rare and precious find.
Edward Lynch enlisted when he was just 18 - one of thousands of fresh-faced men who were proudly waved off by the crowds as they embarked for France. It was 1916 and the majority had no idea of the reality of the Somme trenches, of the traumatised soldiers they would encounter there, of the innumerable, awful contradictions of war. Private Lynch was one of those who survived, and on his return home, wrote Somme Mud in pencil in over 20 school exercise books, perhaps in the hope of coming to terms with all that he had witnessed there?
Written from the perspective of an ordinary 'Tommy' and told with dignity, candour and surprising wit, Somme Mud is a testament to the human spirit: for out of the mud that threatened to suck out a man's soul rises a compelling story of humanity and friendship.
For all who are marking the centenary of the Great War, it is a rare and precious find.
Ratings and reviews
4.7
11 reviews
Suzanne Crawford
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17 December 2019
If you want to read a book that will put you right down in the mud with bullets flying over your head and the bodies of dead soldiers surrounding you. Read this book. I have read a lot of war books, a lot of them put you right in the action but none open your eyes to your surroundings while in the mud like this book does.
Alex Babic
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28 January 2015
This is one of the most gripping and horrifying accounts of life in the trenches that I have ever read. I just don't know how they did it. Not for the feint hearted.
2 people found this review helpful
A Google user
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10 November 2013
Highly recommend this book, written from the words of a WWI soldier, it's a truly powerful account of hopes, fears and reality on the front line.
About the author
Born in 1898, E P F Lynch served in France with the First Australian Imperial Force from 1916-19. On his return to Australia he became a teacher, but in 1939 joined the militia before transferring to the regular army where he was Officer Commanding the NSW jungle training school. After the war, he returned to teaching. He died in 1980.
Will Davies is a film-maker and military historian. He lives in Sydney.
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